Work In Progress
by SocialSuicide
Summary: Sequal to 'The Testing of Wills'. It's Valentines Day and the Wraith decide to attack when Sheppard's team and Carson Beckett are off world. For Kedawen, this is intolerable. The Wraith have been very bad...they need to be punished. NOC introduced.
1. Bird day

Disclaimer: Pshaw.

Work In Progress

Prologue:

Carson sighed as he leafed through the pamphlet he dared to call a 'menu'. The selection was not very appetizing, but he hadn't eaten anything but chocolate cake in the last three days. Chocolate was still a tetchy subject, both for him and Rodney McKay, their resident lead scientist.

He was still looking through the booklet when his door opened and Kedawen came in, carrying large paper hearts and lots...lots of red, pink, and white ribbon. For a moment, he stared at her.

"Keda?" he asked, and she stopped, grinning when she saw him.

"Time to honor birds." she chirped, and Carson stared for a moment longer, lost within the deep pits of confusion. Birds...she'd finally flipped. Then he looked at his calendar and his eyes opened wide in surprise. It was February! Oh, okay, so she was talking about Valentines Day.

"...Okay." he said, getting up and accepting some of the decorations. He followed her as she walked sown the hall, smiling at everyone she saw and spouting, "Happy pairing of the birds," thus causing much confusion, from which Carson was not excluded.

They spent most of the next hour sticking ribbon to the walls near the ceiling with bits of rubber tack. Where she had gotten it, Carson didn't know. In fact, he preferred not knowing. It just made things easier.

Suddenly, while Kedawen was standing on Carson's shoulders, attaching the last of the ribbon to the entrance of the gate room, the alarms went off, and Keda, startled, lost her balance, her feet sliding down the back of the doctor's shoulders, but the bulk of her body falling backwards, and was saved only when Carson dropped the rest of the decorations and threw out his arms, where she landed, heavily, throwing out her own arms for stability and grabbing the wall that was just 'above' her head.

It was very awkward indeed when Sheppard, Teyla, Aidan, Weir and Rodney came into the gate room to see Keda stabilizing herself by holding onto the opposite wall, with her knees clenched on Carson's shoulders.

Doctor Carson Beckett turned so red that Rodney thought he would explode.

A/N: Okay, the pairing of the birds explanation. Way back when, Feb 14th was usually when doves would start mating, they called it the pairing of doves. I warned you, she speaks mostly in riddles.


	2. Compromising situation

Disclaimer: Not here for a reason.

Work In Progress

Ch. 1

"Um..." started Sheppard. "Hi...sis."

"I fell." she said, quite clearly. He nodded, slowly, determined not to say anything that she might construe as rude. She might put him back in the hospital.

Rodney, in a mood that resembled jealousy, put up the shield. But before he did, out from the portal stepped a Wraith. One of the leaders, not a bodyguard. Behind him, three flashes of light ensured that no bodyguards would be coming after it. Keda looked at it as it pointed the stun gun at her and Carson and her eyes narrowed.

And then everything happened very fast.

A split second before it fired, She kicked off the wall and then pushed Carson back against the wall so that the stun missile went sailing past them as she curled up into a ball, hands clenched on the door jamb and feet resting precariously on the same section of wall.

It might be prudent to point out at this point in time that she was wearing her light, loose, sleeveless night shirt, her light blue flannel pajama bottoms, her combat boots and not much else, which meant that when she had curled up, so had her shirt. And although Carson had not been hit by the stun gun, he was on the ground none the less from the force of the kick she used to knock him back, and seemed frozen only because of the view.

And Rodney, over by the consoles, was equally oblivious to all happenings because of this, how shall I put it, 'wardrobe malfunction'.

Although the Wraith seemed not to be interested, which, if they had been capable of intelligent speech, the two doctors would have marveled at.

There was a second in which the Wraith and the robot stared at each other, and then it raised the stun gun again and she pushed off the wall and rolled into a standing position.

Her shirt fell back down to cover her and both Rodney and Carson felt instant embarrassment, which they covered for by taking cover, leaving Keda to be covered by Sheppard, Teyla, and Aidan, who were far more qualified to shoot weaponry at the enemy.

Keda's brazen attitude towards the Wraith angered it some, and after she narrowly avoided six more shots, it threw down the weapon and came after her with its bare hands.

Sheppard and Aidan were watching her with some sense of amazement. They still had their guns trained on the Wraith, but they were admiring the way she was kicking its ass.

As it swung at her with it's left, she ducked and lashed out with her own vicious series of kicks and punches. She whirled around with the grace of a dancer, and it was Weir who first realized that she wasn't even looking at the Wraith.

"Her eyes are closed." she said. Sheppard and Aidan looked at her, and ten back at Keda. She had just blocked and delivered a powerful blow on his head. (Considering that she's a robot, I think that everything she'd be doing is powerful.)

And she looked as if she were enjoying this fight immensely.

She also looked as if she were dancing.

But, since she was insane, this probably had a very simple explanation. Maybe she thought she was dreaming?

But after a small, barely noticeable slip of her foot, the Wraith knocked her up against the wall and grabbed her by the throat. Instantly her eyes opened, but instead of worry, they saw an extreme dislike and some other emotion that rated the phrase, "That was a mistake."

Her hands grabbed his arm as he attempted to suck the life out of her and she gave an inhuman yell as she _ripped his arm right out of its socket!!_

Aidan, John, Rodney, Weir, Teyla, and Beckett gaped as the Wraith bellowed in pain. But what happened next seemed...surreal.

She pulled the hand off of her neck, where it had left a sizeable hicky-looking mark, and then started beating the Wraith with it.

With his feeding hand gone, the Wraith quickly succumbed to the darkness of death, as he was unable to regenerate anything. When she was sure that he had ceased breathing, Kedawen looked at him, dropped the arm, felt her neck, and promptly passed out.

There was a pause, and then the others dashed from their positions to go over to her. Carson was the first one there, having been the closest, and he checked her eyes, her hands, and behind her ears.

Being a robot, he had discovered fairly early on in his investigation of her that she didn't have the obvious vital signs that the rest of them did. She didn't have lungs, so it was pointless to check her nonexistent breathing. She didn't have a heart either, so no pulse. At least, not a normal one.

Behind her ears, her synthetic skin was the thinnest, and beneath it, the lights of her cerebral cortex could be seen, blinking away to let him know that she was still active. Her hands, where her interface nodes were housed, were vibrating still, as the nodes were ever ready to connect her to any computer, and her eyes, when she wasn't doing anything but standing still, where constantly flicking back and forth so fast, it almost looked like they weren't moving at all.

"She's still alive," Carson sighed, relieved, as Rodney and the others approached.

"Will she be okay?" he asked, genuinely worried.

"Tha's yer area of expertise, Rodney. I'm no' a scientis'." replied the doctor, and Rodney nodded.

"Right, come on, let's get her to the Lab." he said. He reached to pick her up, as did Carson, but John beat them both to it, scooping up his surrogate sister and giving them both knowing and exasperated looks.

"Amateurs." he muttered, shaking his head as he shifted the unconscious robot teen in his arms. The two of them looked away, their faces slowly turning red.

A/N: Gasp! The trouble is starting already!!! Stay tuned, campers, it's going to be a bumpy ride.


	3. A conversation between 'friends'

Disclaimer: Why is this even here anymore?

Work In Progress.

Ch. 2

"So..."

"I don't know." was Rodney's automatic response.

He and Carson were in the laboratory that had been adapted for Kedawen's personal maintenance. He had removed everyone else from the room and the only reason he hadn't removed Carson was that the Scottish doctor refused to be moved.

Kedawen was lying on her examination table, covered where it counts so that Rodney could have access to all of her protocol analysis panels.

Like Data, they were hidden under her skin. He very carefully had the skin peeled away from these panels and had hooked her up to the data pad in his hand. He was running a standard diagnostics check, so far everything was fine.

He found it strange that this was the only time that he really didn't notice how attractive she was. She wasn't distracting like this.

Weird, because she **was** naked except for two small..._small_ blankets.

He glanced over at Carson to see that the good doctor was looking everywhere except at the girl robot. So obviously she was still having some sort of effect on the doc. Despite the fact that her circuits were showing.

He suddenly wondered if it was pathetic that the girl they were competing for was a machine. The thought stopped him and Carson looked up.

"Did ye find somethin'?"

"Why don't you go see if someone needs you?" snapped Rodney, and Carson looked at him, unmoved. "Beckett, I can hardly concentrate with you fidgeting all the time. So, just, find a place to perch and roost, would ya?"

Carson stared at the really bizarre phrase, but said nothing as he went to the desk and sat behind it, chin resting on his arms.

"And as long as we're on the subject, once she's stable and awake I want you to convince her to stop baking cakes for a while." continued the scientist as he went back to his data pad. Carson 'hmm'ed in response.

"Ge''in' tired of chocola' cake, Rodney?" he asked, as calmly as he could while still being sick with worry. He wanted Kedawen to be alright. He cared for her, she was special, and he wanted her to experience more of Atlantis. Plus he would miss their chess games too much.

He wanted to kill the entire Wraith race for hurting her.

"No, I like Chocolate," replied Rodney as he moved on to the more complicated systems check. "but I'd like to keep my teeth and be able to stomach other foods as well. I'm sure you want to be able to taste something 'not' chocolate again, right?" he asked.

Carson didn't answer.

Rodney looked at him to find that he wasn't listening.

"Carson?" he asked. When there was no reply, he rolled his eyes. "Your hair's on fire."

No response.

"The Athosians are rebelling, they want to kill us all."

No response.

"Whoops, there go Keda's towels."

"I beg yer pardon?"

"You're so pathetic." smirked the scientist. Carson blushed and returned to his thoughts.

A/N: Okay, that was a short one. But it's funny. Longer chapters to come, I promise. In the meantime, read this, review it, and then check out all my other stories and review to them . I'm bored and my mailbox is empty, so fill it.


	4. Team meeting

Disclaimer: **Response to Caine B: Maybe if you tell me about your specifications, I'll put you in. Big Maybe.**

Work In Progress

Ch. 3 (February 3rd.)

"Have you been able to figure out what's wrong with her?" asked Elizabeth Weir as she, Sheppard, Teyla, and Aidan met with Rodney and Carson in the small laboratory. Rodney sighed from frustration.

"No. Nothing. As far as I can tell, she's in perfect working order." he said, flustered.

"You've had three days." said Sheppard, slightly appalled.

"She has hundreds of subroutines that have to be explored in order to figure out where the problem is." Rodney responded.

"Can't you jump start her?" asked Aiden, shrugging. "You know, do a systems shut down or something?"

Carson looked alarmed at these words and lifted his head from the table to look at them, silently hoping that Rodney would say no.

"It's not something that I want to try unless I have to." said the scientist reluctantly.

"Why not? Sounds like a good idea to me." said John. Rodney looked at him.

"It's not that simple." he sapped, and Sheppard waited for an explanation. "She's not just some computer that you can hard boot whenever it starts acting up. She's complicated. If I crash her systems and then bring them online again, there's a chance that she might lose half her subroutines. mainly the ones dealing with free will, personality—Basically everything that makes her slightly human." he clarified.

There was a moment of silence.

"So what do we do?"

"Maybe she will wake up on her own?" Teyla suggested. Rodney looked at her and chewed his lip thoughtfully.

"She's not supposed to be able to pass out like this in the first place. We don't know that she will wake up at all." he said.

"Well, we can't so anything else, so we'll wait." said Elizabeth, looking around at her friends and colleagues before glancing at Carson, who hadn't said a word but was staring directly at Keda. "In the meantime, I want you back on your regular schedules. SG-4 has reported that they've found a temple on M73-P98. Gear up." she ordered. They all nodded and then Elizabeth turned to Carson. "Doctor Beckett, I want you to go with them in case they need medical assistance."

_No, you wan' me t' stop mopin' 'round Keda._ thought Beckett, but nodded anyway.

"Yes Doctor Weir."

he said, standing and turning to leave. They watched him go, speculating as to his odd behavior.

"What a love sick puppy." muttered Sheppard to Weir, once the others had left. Weir smirked, shaking her head.

"Just be sure to bring him back in one piece or you-know-who will put you back in one of his hospital beds." she said back. He laughed nervously at that one, glancing back to see Keda was still 'sleeping'. Then Elizabeth sighed. "I wonder what's wrong with her."

"Yeah, I know." said the major. Then he thought of something. "Didn't you tell me that she said one of her robot buddies blew herself up when a Wraith attacked her?" he asked. Weir blinked.

"I beg your pardon?" she asked. He looked at her and shrugged.

"Just a question. It's not like she's gonna blow up or anything." he said. Then they both stopped, looked back at the lab, looked at each other and sighed. Sheppard shook his head. "I need a vacation." he muttered.

"You and me both." agreed Elizabeth, running a hand through her hair and trying not to think of all the bad things that Keda could possibly do to them.

A/N: I think that one was longer than the last couple. Maybe. Anyway, keep those reviews comin'.


	5. Eat it, Carson

Disclaimer: Poor Carson. Oh well, I have a feeling he'll get over it.

Work in Progress

Ch. 4 (February 7)

Stepping back through the gate, Carson had to stop himself from going to see how Keda was doing. It was almost automatic. He helped a wounded soldier to the medical bay and treated his wounds before making his way subconsciously the small lab.

Rodney was still working on her, and had been since they had returned from their off world mission. Carson watched him for a few moments and then left to go to what had been cautiously labeled the Cafeteria. Several children ran around tables and he walked towards one in the corner. He was soon joined by Sheppard and Teyla. Ford was still looking at the menu.

"You know, if she were awake, I bet Keda wouldn't have a problem baking us a cake." Sheppard said. "Mmm. Chocolate."

Carson made a face. This was a game they played. Remember the good times, in case there aren't any more. It wasn't one he was particularly fond of, but it was better than not talking about it.

"Ich." he said, and they smiled. Ford came back with his lunch, a very unappetizing looking tin of macaroni and cheese, and sat down next to Carson, nudging him. Looking at him, The doctor saw that Ford was carrying a second tin.

"Your meatballs and potato flakes." he said grandly. Carson made another face.

"Possibly the wors' combination ever." he muttered, accepting it and poking at it with his fork. Teyla finished her lasagna before any of them had eaten their food and looked at Carson.

"You must eat, Carson." she said, and he looked up. "It is better warm than cold."

"Ah, you have learned well, young padawan." Sheppard said, as he finished the last of his turkey sandwich. She smirked, and then looked at her welsh friend.

"I'm really no'—"

"Hey guys," McKay said, sliding into the end seat next to Carson. He eyed the potato flakes and looked at Beckett. "Are you gonna eat that?"

"N—"

"Yes." said Sheppard, firmly. "He is." And he looked pointedly at Carson, who sighed, but picked up his fork and poked half-heartedly at the already separating flakes of potato imitation.

"Fine," conceded Rodney peacefully, glancing over at the very short line at the counter, almost wholly consisting of Athosian children, who seemed to share his love of MRE's. "I'll be back in a minute then."

He got up and went to go stand in line, behind Jinto, who turned to talk to him. The two of them were like brothers, always talking about what Rodney did and what certain things were. Carson sighed, munching thoughtfully on the really nasty tasting fake 'taters.

"By the way, Carson, you'll be accompanying us through the gate again tomorrow, we're going to P4X-639. SG- 4 met some natives there, and while they don't have a ZPM, they might be worth checking out."

"Wha' fer?"

"Their camps are bigger than any of the others that have been attacked by the Wraith." Aidan said. Carson looked semi interested and looked down to see that he'd eaten most of his food with out realizing it.

Of course, as soon as he did realize it, his mouth was filled with the taste of artificial foodstuffs and he fought back a gag or two.

"The thought is," commented Rodney, as he returned with his meal, which looked twice as disgusting as Carson's own meal. "that maybe they have some sort of biological way of fighting them off, like the Hoffans, only not so extreme."

Carson remembered the Hoffans, and the disaster that had come of their obsession and shivered. He hoped there wouldn't be another version like that anytime soon.

"I'll go ge' ready," he said, getting up from his seat and heading off to his quarters. The others watched him go and shook their heads.

"He's got it bad for her, huh?" Aidan said, munching on his turkey gravy dish. Teyla's brow furrowed.

"I do not understand."

"It means he really likes her, but he doesn't quite realize just how much yet." Sheppard explained. She nodded and then looked after Carson, who had just run into someone without apologizing, a first for the Scottish doctor.

"I believe that Kedawen has...'got it badly' for Carson as well. I have seen the way that they interact. It is much different than the way she treats anyone else." said the Athosian leader. Sheppard smirked a little at her misuse of the slang, but nodded, regardless of Rodney's indignant manner.

He was all too aware of Carson's and Rodney's competition for his little 'sister', and in spite of the fact that he should really be discouraging them, he was kind of rooting for the doc.

A/N: Okay, I know it was short, and I'm sorry, but that's the way it goes.


	6. Caine Koro

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone but Kedawen. Caine B owns herself and all that.

Work In Progress

Ch. 4

(February 8)

Carson looked around at the camp of farmers and hunters and sighed, politely refusing yet another herbal tea that his hostess was offering him.

"No, thank ye." he said, and the woman smiled cheerfully, though he suspected that she was going to go into the kitchen yet again to worry about the wisdom of her choice of tea. Teyla watched this occur for the seventh time and went into the kitchen after the elderly woman to explain why Carson was not drinking her teas.

Sheppard and McKay had gone to obtain permission from the council of elders so that Carson could perform his purely observational tests without being sentenced to death every five minutes. Sheppard didn't seem to mind the sentencing, but McKay found it distracting and bugged the Major into the ordeal.

Aidan had gone fruit picking with the hostess's daughter. Carson, having met the girl, suspected that what she had on her mind had little to do with apples or pears, but also suspected that Aidan knew nothing of this ulterior motive.

They had been right, of course, the village was bigger than any of the ones they'd come across so far. The people were happy, and seemed not to fear the imminent threat that the Wraith posed.

"Hey, we're back." Sheppard announced, and Carson looked up at him. "We got permission to study, but if we start to frighten the villagers, we have to leave."

"Yes, so no needles, it reminds them of the wraith."

"Charming." Carson replied, and gathered his kit. The woman came back out of the kitchen, sans tea, and smiled sadly at Carson, who looked at Teyla and then smiled back. "Thank ye for yeh're hospitali'y." he said, and she nodded. Teyla gave him an apologetic shrug and they all walked out together.

"Hey, where's Ford?" asked McKay. Carson smirked.

"Lealla dragged him ou' t' the orchards t' pick some apples and pears." he said. McKay thought about this for a moment and then turned back to the doctor.

"It's not the right season for that." he said, as right about then Lieutenant Aidan Ford came running back towards them, looking extremely pale for someone with dark skin.

"Major Sheppard!" he called, as he approached. They all looked his way and a look of amusement crossed their faces when they saw that he looked really worried about something. "Major Sheppard she's after me." he gasped, out of breath.

"Who?"

"Lealla!"

Even Carson had to laugh, as around the corner came Lealla and Aidan flinched, seeing the affectionate look in her eyes as she glanced his way.

"You've gotta help me, sir." begged the young lieutenant.

"Relax, Lieutenant, just stick with McKay and Beckett, you should be safe with them."

Carson spent the rest of the day with both Rodney and Aidan buzzing in his ear as he collected samples from the young children first and then moved on to the older villagers. They were all very much alike. They all had green eyes and white hair, which helped them to blend into their very strange trees of the same colors.

"Alright, thank ye. Would you send in the next person?" asked Carson as he finished collecting tissue, hair, and a blood sample from the twenty-five year old blacksmith. He tucked the samples away and reached for fresh tools as the next person sat down on the stool in front of him.

When he turned to examine her, he stopped, and knew immediately that she wasn't the same species as the rest of the villagers.

For one thing, her hair was brown, as were her eyes. And while the Edajh carried no weapons except while defending from the Wraith, the woman before him had attached to herself a bow and a quiver of arrows, as well as a hunting knife and a small firearm in a makeshift holster. The firearm, definitely out of place, had probably been picked up on another planet. She'd probably found it after a Wraith attack, because although she was most definitely **not** a Wraith, her weapon most definitely **was**.

Carson hesitated and then looked at his friends, who were just as disturbed as he was, and then looked back at the woman.

"Good mornin'." he said, cautiously, and she nodded in return. He took a moment to study her before getting to work. She was covered in scars it seemed, some from battle with the Wraith, it looked like, but some were stranger than others. They were circular, and seemed mostly to be located around her heart, as if something had tried to kill her with a harpoon and missed a couple times. The one scar that stood out was the one on her side, that consisted of a large, elliptical scar with five other, smaller ones branching out from it.

Like a hand print.

Carson looked at her in confused awe.

"Wha's yer name, lass?" he asked, and she lifted her chin, straightening up proudly.

"I am Caine Koro." she said, with great dignity. "And you think the truth, I am not of this world. I am of the Xenosia."


	7. Rodney and Caine

Disclaimer: Okay, sorry about that guys, I know I haven't been updating frequently, but the explanation is simple. I died while washing my hair out of town.

Work In Progress

Ch. 7

(Feb. 9)

Carson had spent the rest of the day with Caine, and Rodney had come with him, curious about anyone who had survived a 'Wraith-bite' as the Atlantians had not-so-affectionately nicknamed it. Also they were curious about the other scars, because they'd never seen anything like them before.

At the end of the day, the council had insisted that they get some sleep, instead of badgering their out of town resident, and so they adjourned, although Caine did not, choosing instead to perch atop the roof of the tallest building and keep watch. She didn't seem to need any sleep at all.

The next morning, Carson was called to complete the tests on the Edajh citizens, so he sent Rodney to interview the girl.

"Why me?" Rodney complained, as Carson gathered his sample kit.

"Because yeh're a doctor."

"I've got a doctorate that doesn't mean anything. I'm an astrophysicist, god damn it!" he said. Carson had a theory that Rodney was a bit scared of Caine because her scars indicated battle experience, and she could probably snap the scientist like a twig.

"Look, Rodney, unless ye wan' t' take the samples from the Edajh, yeh're goin' t' talk t' Caine. Are we clear?"

Rodney McKay looked extremely indignant for about thirty seconds as he tried and failed to come up with some excuse that would get him out of doing this, and then muttered, "Fine." before storming out the door.

He walked around the camp, fuming at Carson, and not really looking specifically for the person he was supposed to interview. He stopped outside a hut and folded his arms, scowling and pouting like a petulant twelve year old that had been told to clean his room.

"RodneyMcKay." said a growly female voice behind him, and he jumped, turning quickly to be confronted by Caine Koro, who was, unlike yesterday, minimally armed. The bow and arrows were gone, and so were many of her knives, but she still carried the Wraith weapon and her hunting knife.

She was also perched on a barrel of rain water, crouched like a cat and staring at him with her piercing brown eyes.

She was dressed in leggings that seemed to be a great many leaves that had been stitched together. Her shirt was made from tanned animal hide. He blinked at her appearance and tried to think of something to say, some quip that would save him from looking like the easily scared scientist that he was.

"Caine Koro. Well, how...nice. I've been looking for you. Carson asked me to talk to you about where you came from." he said. Even to him it sounded lame. Plus he was lying. Boy he hoped she wouldn't catch that.

"You were not looking for me, RodneyMcKay. But I was looking for you."

This made him a little nervous.

"You were...l-looking for me? Well, isn't that...nice."

Caine studied him for a moment, then tilted her head and gracefully dismounted from the rain barrel, looking slightly amused.

"You're scared." she said, matter of factly.

"I am not." he argued.

"Of me, you are." she argued back.

He fidgeted silently and looked around for witnesses only to find that there were none. Crap.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I happen to be intimidated by women who have that many scars and carry Wraith weapons." he snapped, and then reflected that being snippy was probably a bad idea. She smirked, turning and walking casually out of the village, watched by the confused astrophysicist. A few feet away, she stopped and looked at him over her shoulder. She raised an eyebrow at him, as if asking what he was waiting for, and then continued walking.

Rodney watched her for a second longer and then looked around before walking after her, his better judgment cursing him.

-----------------------

"There, tha's the last one." Carson said, and the Edajh in question scampered off. Ford watched him go and then looked at the Scottish doctor.

"So, do you think Rodney's scared off that girl yet?"

"I have no doubt tha' she's contempla'in' his untimely end." Carson said, chuckling a little bit. "He does tend t' aliena'e people. However, she seems like a reasonable person. I don' think she'd kill him, no ma''er how annoyin' he go'."

Ford looked a little skeptical about that, but kept his thoughts to himself.

Major Sheppard walked in and looked at the two of them. His expression was one of controlled worry. Teyla walked in one step behind him.

"Have either of you seen Rodney?" he asked. Carson looked at Ford and then back at Sheppard.

"No. I sent him to talk to Caine."

With a sigh of frustration, John Sheppard departed the small hut and left to seek his astrophysicist. Carson gnawed his lower lip for a moment or two and then got up to follow them.

He was the doctor after all.


	8. Talk of Citrus

Disclaimer: Kedawen belongs to me. Caine owns herself, and the rest of them are R.D.A's.

Chapter 6

(Feb. 9)

"Are you sure this isn't citrus?" Asked McKay, for about the sixteenth time, smelling the round, orange fruit in his hand. Caine, sitting in a relaxed lounging position in the crook of the tree smiled lazily as she took a bite of her own fruit.

"Are all of your people as paranoid as you?"

"I'm allergic. If I have citrus, my windpipe will swell and I'll asphyxiate." he snapped, smelling the fruit again and tentatively taking a small bite. Caine raised a sardonic eyebrow and rolled carelessly onto her side, looking down at him. They were about halfway up the tree, and whereas she was relaxed, he was nervous as all get out.

"Is there not a cure for this allergy?" she asked.

"There's a treatment for when it happens, but I've foolishly left it back at the village, with all my other equipment and weapons." he said, still holding onto the main trunk as he continued to nibble on the juicy pear-like fruit. She tilted her head at him and rolled off her branch onto his. He stopped eating and stared at her, edgy and concerned.

They were up in a tree, after all.

She stood up on the branch and he made sounds of incredulous anxiety without actually letting go of the trunk in order to get her to stop being so careless. She could fall and break her neck, and then where would they be? She ignored his protests and walked three steps towards him, well inside his personal boundaries, before squatting down to sit on her heels.

They were almost nose to nose.

"Uh..." said the suddenly speechless doctor. She raised an eyebrow and leaned forward a little bit.

"The fruit you have just eaten...is called the Citronis." she said, mischievously.

His eyelids flew even more wide open than they were and his anguished shriek of terror could be heard for miles.

-------

"You don't think she's killed him by now do you?" asked Ford, with a hint of amusement. "I've heard that there are people on Earth who can skin a human body and dismember it within a few hours. Think of what a person like her could do."

Teyla, Sheppard, and Carson made a look at the all too eager Lieutenant.

"No." said Sheppard, shaking his head. Teyla shared an exasperated look with Carson as the Major continued. "She seems like a civilized person. She and the good doctor are probably---"

A loud, shrill scream of pure and undiluted terror broke the air and they stopped, the hair on the back of their necks standing up on end.

They looked at each other for a moment and then simultaneously made a break for the source of the noise, Sheppard, Teyla, and Ford in the lead, being in the best shape, and Carson bringing up the rear, panting raggedly after only thirty yards of a full on sprint.

It was perhaps a minute before the three in front broke through the thick vegetation and saw....nothing.

At first.

It was a moment before they noticed the tree moving.

Looking up, they watched as two persons descended the tree branches to the ground. The first was McKay.

He looked livid.

The second was Caine.

She looked strangely satisfied.

Until she saw Major Sheppard and the others.

Her posture changed dramatically, and her right hand drew immediately to her firearm, not drawing it, just hovering, as if waiting. And the smile disappeared from her face.

It seemed she was threatened by Major John Sheppard.


	9. strange behavior real short, sorry

Disclaimer: Not mine. Okay, that's done, let's get it on .

Work In Progress.

Chapter Eight (Feb 9th still)

Major Sheppard pulled on a look of confusion at this odd behavior, and So did the others, who looked at each other and then back at Caine. McKay looked at her, and wondered why she'd been so free and easy-going when it was just him.

The thought struck him that maybe she didn't think he was any kind of threat. That he wouldn't be hard to take out of the equation if it came to that, and therefore she didn't have to put up her guard.

It stung that no one ever looked at him as anything but the smart guy. Or Smart-ass, in some instances.

"Hello, Major." Rodney greeted sourly, and then looked at the others. "Lieutenant. Teyla." They all nodded their greetings and then looked back at Caine, who was acting quite strangely.

Right about then, Carson finally caught up to them, breathing heavily and cursing under his lack of breath. How he wished that he'd kept in shape. When he saw Caine and Rodney, he slumped to the ground, partly in relief that the astrophysicist was still alive. Mostly from exhaustion.

"Hello...Rodney." he panted, and the spurned scientist set his jaw.

"Hello, Carson." he said, but said it snappily. Caine had not yet removed her eyes from the group of Atlantians that had come looking for him.

"We, uh, heard Rodney and decided to come see if he was alright." said Sheppard, and Caine tilted her head, eyes narrowing dangerously. "Not that we thought you would hurt him, or anything, but he can be...abrasive...at times."

Caine looked at Rodney and then froze, her muscles bunching up under her floral garb as her gaze snapped from the scientist to the skys, moving quickly back and forth as her ears seemed to prick up, listening intently, and her nostrils flared briefly. Her face contorted into a snarl and she dashed past the group into the forest. The others listened as well and then they're eyes widened in surprise at the sound of a high pitched whistle that could just be heard over the light rustling of the foliage.

"Wraith!" hissed Teyla, before dashing after Caine into the woods. The others followed, drawing their weapons and wondering how the wraith would have gotten there so quickly, since they had gotten rid of Teyla's transmitter. Rodney consciously wondered about the wraith, but in the back of his mind, the jealousy he harbored or Ford and Sheppard was growing.

A/N: Alright, short chappie, bu the other ones will be longer, I promise.


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